twropr wrote:On Mon. Dec. 21, the WOLVERINES began using the new West Detroit Connector, some trains making the Detroit-Dearborn run in 17 min. Am told that the new track has a 40 MPH speed limit... The new track is signaled, so there should be no more stopping to line switches.
Psychologically, riders hate to back up, LOL, it feels worse than going slow. So with the wye maneuver eliminated, passengers will have a much less stressful ride.
A while back a MI DOT official said this project alone would save 10 minutes from the timetable. Now if trains are doing DET-Dearborn in 17 min, the savings might even be a minute or two better. That's still no big thing on a 5+ hr DET-CHI
Wolverines run, but it's sure a Big Deal for the Ann Arbor-DET segment previously 1 hr, or even for Pontiac-Ann Arbor that's 2 hrs in the current timetable.
These short segment city pairs to and thru DET could see nice increases in ridership in 2016. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the upgrades kick in next year and the next.